comb
1- a toothed strip of plastic, hard rubber, bone, wood, or metal, used for arranging the hair, untangling it, or holding it in place.
- a currycomb.
- any comblike instrument, object, or formation.
- the fleshy, more or less serrated outgrowth on the head of certain gallinaceous birds, especially the domestic fowl.
- something resembling or suggesting this, as the crest of a wave.
- a honeycomb, or any similar group of cells.
- a machine for separating choice cotton or wool fibers from noil.
- a comblike instrument for imparting a grainlike finish to a painted surface.
- Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. a ridge of a roof.
- a series of springlike prongs projecting from a spine, usually of plastic, for making a loose-leaf binding.
- a trowel having a notched edge for applying adhesives in setting tiles or the like.
- Armor. a ridge along the top of a helmet, especially of the morion.
- Masonry. drag(def 31).
- the upper edge of the buttstock of a rifle or shotgun.
- to arrange or adorn (the hair) with a comb.
- to use (something) in the manner of a comb: She was slowly combing her fingers through her hair.
- to remove (anything undesirable) with or as if with a comb: She combed the snarls out of her hair. They combed the cowards from the group.
- to search everywhere in: He combed the files for the missing letter.
- to separate (textile fibers) with a comb.
- to scrape with or as with a comb.
- to sweep across; rake: High winds combed the seacoast.
- to roll over or break at the crest, as a wave.
Origin of comb
1combings
- hairs removed with a comb or a brush.
Origin of combings
Related Words for combing
straighten, rummage, rake, forage, investigate, scrutinize, inspect, examine, sift, scour, ransack, sort, curry, tease, cleanse, separate, groom, smooth, disentangle, untangleExamples from the Web for combing
Contemporary Examples of combing
But do you think the same amount of media resources would have been dedicated to combing through Lerner's emails as Palins?
Cops went searching for a would-be suicide bomber, combing through the north-central part of the city.
He says investigators are combing through all the homicides over the last decade to find other similarities.
The police searched all the rooms looking for any Stavitsky documents and combing through financial records.
Right now 29 airplanes and 18 ships are involved in combing the area where on Sunday the satellite found the debris.
Historical Examples of combing
To all of this the deputy listened sadly, combing his mustaches.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
The shorter staples are made into flannels and light woolen goods; and the longer are extensively used for combing.
Palla, combing out her hair, gazed absently into the mirror.
The Crimson TideRobert W. Chambers
But he saw her hand, encarmined by that glare, upon the combing of the cockpit.
His hands were combing through it and he was frowning majestically into the distance.
Pagan PassionsGordon Randall Garrett
combings
- the loose hair, wool, etc, removed by combing, esp that of animals
- the unwanted loose short fibres removed in combing cotton, etc
comb
- a toothed device of metal, plastic, wood, etc, used for disentangling or arranging hair
- a tool or machine that separates, cleans, and straightens wool, cotton, etc
- Australian and NZ the fixed cutter on a sheep-shearing machine
- anything resembling a toothed comb in form or function
- the fleshy deeply serrated outgrowth on the top of the heads of certain birds, esp the domestic fowl
- anything resembling the comb of a bird
- a currycomb
- a honeycomb
- the row of fused cilia in a ctenophore
- go over with a fine-tooth comb, go over with a fine-toothed comb, go through with a fine-tooth comb or go through with a fine-toothed comb to examine very thoroughly
- (tr) to use a comb on
- (when tr, often foll by through) to search or inspect with great carethe police combed the woods
Word Origin for comb
Word Origin and History for combing
comb
Old English camb "comb, crest, honeycomb" (later Anglian comb), from West Germanic *kambaz (cf. Old Saxon and Old High German camb, German Kamm, Middle Dutch cam, Dutch kam, Old Norse kambr), literally "toothed object," from PIE *gombhos, from root *gembh- "to bite, tooth" (cf. Greek gomphos "a molar tooth," Sanskrit gambha-s "tooth").
comb
Idioms and Phrases with combing
comb
see fine-tooth comb.